Arctic Storm Buffets New England With Snow

March 08, 1986|By United Press International.

One of the worst storms of the season raked New England on Friday with 48-mile-an-hour winds and dumped up to a foot of snow, while a wave of Arctic air froze the Northeast and Midwest with subzero temperatures.

The storm dumped 6 inches across most of northern New England and a foot on some Vermont and New Hampshire ski areas. The storm, described by officials as one of the worst of the season, left roads extremely wet and slippery, triggering many minor accidents.

``Tell everybody to put their long underwear back on,`` Maine State Police Officer Thomas Curran said.

``Some roads have turned into a skating rink,`` said Vermont State Police Officer Mark Parker. ``Things weren`t bad overnight, but this morning all the cars started packing the snow down and driving became pretty dangerous.``

Frigid Arctic air locked the Midwest and Northeast in a deep freeze with wind chills 20 to 50 below zero. It was 7 degrees below at Marquette, Mich., and 28 below at Warroad, Minn., the lowest reading nationwide, the National Weather Service said.

Winds of 20 to 35 m.p.h. with gusts near 45 m.p.h. whipped up snow from Michigan to Maine, making driving dangerous.

About 50 school districts in 22 lower Michigan counties were closed Friday, many for the second day in a row, because of icy roads.

In Grand Rapids, a school bus skidded off an icy street and hit a telephone pole. No children were on the bus and the driver suffered minor injuries, police said.

In the New York area, a dusting of snow made highways treacherous, triggering several multiple fender-bender pile-ups on the Long Island Expressway.

Freezing drizzle and flurries slicked South Dakota roads.

A storm off the Pacific Coast spread rain and gusty winds from northern California to western Washington and Oregon. Winds gusted to 64 m.p.h. at Astoria, Ore.

Light snowshowers fell over the middle Mississippi Valley and skies were mostly clear from the southern Atlantic Coast to the southern Plains.